Fang Yuan stumbled out of the inn.
He was still pretending to be drunk, hoping to throw off anyone who wanted to tail him.
That had been a close one- he hadn't thought that the two people in the corner were Gu Masters! It was easy enough to tell mortals to GTFO, what were those NPCs going to do? As it was, even if they complained or noticed no one of significance would pay attention to their findings, to Gu Masters mortals were more forgettable than the furniture that decorated their houses.
Before the mortals, it was enough to appear benevolent. But, that wouldn't' work before those two Gu Masters. He had to change his tune, instead appearing like a wasteful teenager.
He had had to adapt to the situation quickly- then again, what else was the essence of acting?
It was said that a great dancer wasn't one who made no mistakes, but one who could make it so that a mistake during their performance could be weaved naturally into their act. They could take a fumble and create something new with it, thinking on the fly.
Fang Yuan had to be like that many times before he had regressed, and had learned to master the essence of it. He had not done a one-eighty in terms of his behavior before, but he had simply taken what they knew of him and molded it into something else.
A river was already flowing in a direction, but one could still change its course.
He stopped by the side to relieve himself, and was purposefully erratic in his movements as he made his way to the outskirts of the village.
He wanted to make sure he wasn't being followed- he was sure that he had put on a masterful performance, but he had to be cautious.
He meandered off the beaten track, occasionally pretending to fall and nearly go to sleep before getting up and continuing.
Only after over two hours was he finally certain that it was safe to take out the wine.
It was a Rank 5 refinement material, and quite valuable- Fang Yuan would've normally preferred to sell it but the issue was that once again, he would have no way to explain where he got it from.
On top of that, while it was expensive, there was no real market for it in Gu Yue village. After all, Rank 5 refinement materials were really only useful to Rank 5 Gu Masters. If he wanted to sell it, he would probably need to wait for the merchant caravan, and even then, he might not find a buyer.
He would need to go to a large center like Shang Clan City for him to find someone capable and willing to buy this.
But even if he was willing to wait until then, there was an issue.
He didn't have enough of it to sell. A 'jar' was barely enough for one person to drink, and this kind of refinement material had to be sold by the barrel for it to have any value given how difficult it was to refine Rank 5 Gu. Very few people would be interested in buying such a small amount.
As it was, Fang Yuan didn't want to wait that long. The longer he waited, the less useful his future knowledge would be as some of the inheritances and other valuable opportunities he could snatch up would already be taken.
As such, it was best to use the Jade Emperor Bamboo Wine now.
The night was clear, and there was a gentle breeze blowing.
This was the ideal opportunity for the Liquor Worm to appear. If it didn't, he could only curse his bad luck.
In such a case he would have to go back to the default plan of using the Moonlight Gu as his vital Gu. Much like choosing Chikorita as your starter Pokemon, that was far from an ideal choice, but he couldn't waste more time and effort looking for the Liquor Worm.
That was not to say that he would completely give up on the Liquor Worm.
As per his memories, there was still some time until the Liquor Worm was going to be originally discovered.
He didn't remember all of the details of the story, only that a heartbroken Gu Master had been drinking his woes away until he had attracted the Liquor Worm with some alcohol. He followed the Liquor Worm to find the remains of the Flower Wine Monk, which he reported back to the clan.
There was quite a bit of the story that Fang Yuan wasn't clear about, for example, the exact location, but this wasn't just because of his memory, rather, there were likely some details missing from the story.
He hadn't thought much of it at the time, but some things didn't particularly add up.
If he couldn't make the Liquor Worm his vital Gu in time, he wouldn't waste any more effort to find it. But, thanks to the system he had a plentiful supply of primeval stones, meaning he could try later on in the year whenever he had some free time at hand. That was just how useful the Liquor Worm was to him!
It was unfortunate that he wouldn't be able to get the reward for being the first to refine a Gu worm either from the system or the academy because of his lack of talent, especially given all the time he had spent to try to get the Liquor Worm up until now, but that was fine with him. It was far too idealistic to think that one could do everything.
He retrieved the Jade Emperor Bamboo Wine from his inventory, and then uncorked it.
Immediately, a strong sweet aroma of wine permeated throughout the surroundings.
Without a doubt, this was a first-class wine for sure!
It was said, in 'The Legends of Ren Zu' that by drinking first-class wine from each of the regions, Verdant Great Sun had managed to refine Divine Travel Gu. Divine Travel Gu was a Rank 6 Gu, meaning it was an immortal Gu and only one copy of it could exist at any time. Because the method to obtain it was rather straightforward, it was almost a foregone conclusion that it had already been refined by someone by this point.
That was why Fang Yuan knew there was no point in keeping the Jade Emperor Bamboo Wine in hopes of getting more first-class wine to try and refine Divine Travel Gu- that was pointless.
Anyone who saw him spill this first-class wine onto the ground would no doubt scream in agony- even Rank 6 Gu Masters would not do so casually.
The aroma from it spread far further than from the best wine in the village- Fang Yuan knew this because of all the times he had tried before. Not only that, but the scent was also far thicker.
If this couldn't bring out the Liquor Worm, then he had a feeling that nothing could.
He walked about a hundred paces away, and then spilled some more. Soon, it felt like the entire air around the air itself was intoxicating, as if you could get inebriated simply by smelling it.